A Dark Past
by Cherry Wasser
Summary: Katrina is walking down the street, she knows nothing about her past or about herself, except her name. She ends up in a hospital, and Bulma takes her home. From there, her past comes back to haunt her. (I'm really not dead!)
1. Dark Past- Ch.1

*********************** Okay, let's get this straight- I DON"T OWN DRAGONBALL Z. Nor do I own any of its characters, places or any of that stuff. I am simply a fan who has decided to write a story based off the show, so please don't sue me. Besides, I think I have about... five bucks to my name, so unless you're too lazy to go and look in your couch cushions to find that sort of moola ... but anyway... This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so please be nice! ^_^; And I know that a whole crap load of stuff in here doesn't fit into the story line or anything else, so if you're going to flame me for that you're wasting my time and yours. So, with no further delays- enjoy! *************************   
A Dark Past   
She stared at her beloved, who had fallen in battle. The rain came down hard as she cradled his limp body in her arms. How could it have come to this, she wondered as the blood trickled down into the street? He had given his life for her. This was all her fault. She was too weak to fight back. The thunder rolled in from all sides of the sky, as if to show their disapproval of the fight that had taken place. Trunks lay there in his lover's arms. His opponent lay on the other side of the street, also dead. The fight had ended in a draw. It was only a matter of time before the others came...   
*****Flash back to a year earlier*****   
Katrina walked down the street in a daze. She couldn't remember what had happened to her. She felt, strange somehow. People kept looking at her funny. What were they staring at? Was it her hair? Her clothes?   
She stopped by a window and saw a mangled girl stare back. Was that her? Her face was pale, except for a few bruises. Her brown eyes were dull and showed no emotion. They just looked...hollow. Hey long brown hair was matted and had knots in it. It looked like she hadn't brushed it in days. Her gray T-shirt was dirty, and hung baggy on her. The same with her khaki pants. They too were smudged, and badly torn at the bottom. Her shoes were no longer white and blue, but gray and black.   
It looked like she had been through hell. For all she knew, she had been. She couldn't remember anything, except that her name was Katrina, and that she was very hungry. She walked down the street, looking for a place to eat. She found a pizza place and was about to walk in when she tripped, and blacked out.   
Katrina woke up in a white room. She was in a bed and had a little tube sticking out of her arm. It smelled like a hospital. That because, she realized a minute later, she was in one. There wasn't anyone else in the room. She had a hospital gown on.   
"How long have I been here," she asked, half expecting someone to reply. No one did. So, she decided to get up and have a look around.   
When she got up, a monitor that had been keeping track of her pulse fell off. The steady beep beep beep of the machine died into just one long sound. Very quickly a nurse, doctor, and a blue haired woman came rushing in-eyes wide with fear. They stopped at the sight of Katrina just standing there, a little startled by their sudden entrance. The four just stood there, looking at each other. An uncomfortable silence passed.   
"Hi," Katrina said weakly with a little wave of her hand. What else could she say?   
"Oh, you're finally awake," the blue haired woman said with a smile. Katrina liked her, she didn't know why, she just did. There was something about her, Katrina couldn't put her finger on just what exactly it was, but she felt she was going to be spending a lot of time with this woman.   
"Where am I? And how long have I been here," she asked weakly. She remembered being hungry, finding a place to eat, and then...did she trip?   
"How about I answer that, as soon as I ask you some questions," the blue haired woman said warmly. She was like a mom Katrina thought. That's why she liked her, she had that same voice a mom uses to calm a frightened child. Katrina hadn't heard a voice like that for a long time.   
But how would you know, a voice asked her, if you can't remember anything? But she did. For some reason she just knew it. It had been a while since she had last seen her mother, since they took her away screaming and kicking. Swearing at them for what they've done to her and her family...   
She snapped back to reality. The nurse and doctor were gone; it was just her and the blue-haired woman, sitting on the hospital bed. When did she sit down?   
"Okay, let's start with names," the lady said coolly, "Mine is Bulma, what's yours?"   
"Uhh...it's umm...Katrina," the young girl managed to say.   
"Katrina, okay. Could you tell me what happened, if you can remember, before you blacked out?"   
"I w-was walking down the street, and I was hungry. I wanted something to eat. So I went up to the pizza place and tripped. Then I woke up here."   
"And before that?"   
"I uhh..." Katrina bit her lower lip. She couldn't remember anything before that. Would this lady believe her? "I... don't remember. I'm sorry,"   
  
Her eyes started to burn. Oh man, she thought, why is this happening to me? What did I do?   
"That's okay dear. But you can't remember anything at all? We found you in pretty bad shape. You were malnourished and dehydrated. You suffered from exhaustion as well as numeral physical injuries. Someone called us and said they saw a girl passed out on the street. That was three weeks ago. We brought you to this hospital because we thought you could get better faster here. This place is owned by my business, Capsule Corporation."   
"Oh," Katrina murmured. For some reason that name rang a bell.   
"Do you have any family to speak of? Any relatives that you know of who can come and take care of you? I'll bet they're worried sick about you."   
"I don't remember. I can't recall anything passed just walking down the street. I feel lucky that I know my own name."   
"I see..." Bulma said, then was quiet for a moment, in deep thought. "Okay Katrina, you're going to stay here until I can make arrangements for you to stay someplace else."   
"Okay," Katrina said.   
Bulma got up, walked over to the door and opened it.   
"Hey, Bulma?"   
"Yes?"   
"...Thank you..."   
The next three weeks were very boring. There wasn't much to do around the hospital. Katrina mostly watched TV. Occasionally, she'd help out with the patients (which she enjoyed) but not as much as she would have liked to. No one came to visit, because no one knew who she was (at least to her knowledge no one did). No one except for Bulma, who'd pop in occasionally to see how things were going. Katrina and Bulma quickly became friends. She would always look forward to her next visit.   
Despite the distractions, the days still melted into each other. Katrina still couldn't remember anything, and was wondering if Bulma would ever find a home for her. What if she got stuck in the hospital forever?   
That's silly, she thought. Bulma will surely find something for her. Katrina suddenly realized she knew next to nothing about Bulma. She didn't even know if she had a family of her own. Yeah, she knew Bulma owned Capsule Corp., but that was about it. During the day that marked the six-week point of Katrina's stay, she got a visit from Bulma, who seemed to be very excited about something.   
"I finally found a home for you," she exclaimed happily.   
"Really, what's it like?"   
"Well, the woman has a husband, he's grouchy, but not too bad once you get to know him. A son, who's about you age, and-how old are you? I just now realize that I've never asked you that."   
"Fifteen."   
"Oh, well, he's a year older than you then. And a little girl, who's about six."   
"Sounds nice."   
"It is, it's a very big house too. Plus, they have a lot of space outside, and a lot of things to do. I think you'll like it there."   
"So, what's this lady's name?"   
"You'll find out when you get there. I'll introduce you. I'm sure you'll get along fine with her."   
"I hope so. When do I get to move in?"   
"Tomorrow."   
Katrina had packed all her stuff. Her small load consisted of her clothes they found her in, a few new outfits the hospital had provided, and shampoo and things of that sort. It all fitted quite easily into the suitcase. A taxi would pick her up at 11:00 a.m. and take her to her new 'family' for the time being. Bulma would introduce her to the people she'd be living with and then...   
Then what? Katrina had had that feeling, that she would be spending more time with Bulma. Had the little voice of intuition been wrong? It didn't seem right that it would be. Maybe it wasn't... maybe it was.   
Katrina put her suitcase (courtesy of the hospital) into the trunk of the taxi, and said goodbye to all the staff on her floor. In a way, she was going to miss them. It wasn't a very long cab ride, but Katrina fell asleep anyway. She awoke with a jolt when the cab made its final stop. She got her stuff out of the trunk, and realized with embarrassment that she had no money to pay the cab driver with. She wondered what she was going to do about this when Bulma ran up from behind and took care of it.   
"I'm glad you're here," Bulma said and gave Katrina a hug.   
"So where's this lady I'm supposed to be living with," Katrina questioned.   
"You're looking at her." 


	2. Dark Past- Ch.2

Chapter 2   
Katrina's jaw dropped. This was unbelievable! How cool! Her, living with Bulma's family!   
"Let me show you inside," Bulma said, motioning for Katrina to follow her. When they walked in the door a little blue-haired girl ran up to Bulma and gave her a big hug. She looked like a type of mini-me for the blue-haired woman.   
"Is this the girl mommy? The girl who was 'apposed to live with us," she questioned looking at Katrina. "Yes it is dear. Katrina, this is Bra, my daughter." Katrina knelt down to the little girl and shook her hand.   
"It's nice to meet you Bra." The small child giggled and ran off to another room. It was then that Katrina saw a man. His hair was spiked up and he wore a scowl on his face. He stood there with his arms crossed. Bulma went up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Okay, so this was her husband, Katrina thought. His expression did not change as he looked Katrina up and down, examining her, as if to see if she was up to his standards. "Katrina, this is my husband Vegeta. Vegeta, this is Katrina, the girl I told you about." Vegeta just grunted and mumbled something about weak and that he was going to go and train some more. Bulma just rolled her eyes. Then she looked around, as if expecting to see someone.   
"Bra, where's your brother gone off to?"   
"He said he was going to Goten's really quick and that he'd be right back." Bulma sighed and looked somewhat frustrated. She motioned for Katrina to follow her and led her through the kitchen. Katrina noticed that their refrigerator looked rather large. They went up a flight of stairs and into what was going to be Katrina's room for a while. It was a nice sized room. It had a TV, telephone, and computer in it. A window was on the opposite end of the room from the entrance they were standing in. There was a dresser on one side of the window, and a bed on the other. The computer was on the opposite wall of the bed and was sitting on a desk along with the telephone. The television was on it's own little nightstand next to the desk. A few feet away, there was a door, leading to a bathroom complete with bathtub and shower.   
"Here's where you'll be staying. My room is down the hall a ways and to the left. Bra's room is down the other way," she motioned to the right, "and on the right side of the hallway. My son, who's decided to go off with Goten and do Kami knows what, is named Trunks and his room is right next to yours. But I told him that if he bothers you too much, or plays any pranks he'll have hell to pay."   
Bulma left Katrina to unpack her stuff. It didn't take very long for her to put everything away; it wasn't like she had that many things. Katrina wondered how she'd get the money to buy the things she needed, but figured that either she'd get a job, or that Bulma would give her a hand. She decided to play on the computer a little bit. She found it was connected to the Internet and started looking for places nearby that had a bargain on clothes she liked. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw two figures land in the backyard. But that was ridiculous, people can't fly all by themselves.   
"Just where do you think you're going," an angry Bulma yelled. Hmm, her son must be home, Katrina thought. She logged off and went downstairs to go see who he was.   
"Awww mom, I wasn't gone that long," a voice pleaded.   
"I told you we had a guest coming today," Bulma roared.   
"He just forgot, he is sorry though. When he remembered, he flew back as fast as he could," another voice chimed in.   
"Fine! But next time, I'll get your father to handle it!" Katrina had finally reached the last step. There were two boys standing next to each other, across from a very angry looking Bulma. Both were slightly taller than Katrina was; she came up to their chins. One had purple hair; the other had black hair. Bulma saw Katrina, and her face softened slightly.   
"Oh, there you are Katrina. This is my son Trunks," she motioned to the purple haired boy, "and his friend Goten."   
"Hi," they both said. Katrina looked at Goten, and then at Trunks. Wow, she thought, his eyes are very blue.   
"I'll bet you guys are all hungry for some hamburgers," Bulma said, the boys' heads snapped in her direction at the mention of food,   
"Why don't you guys hang out for a while, and I'll come get you when the food's ready." The duo nodded their heads and walked over to Katrina. They told her to come on, and she followed them into Trunks' room. Goten shut the door and sighed.   
"Man, I thought you were in for it Trunks, she looked really pissed."   
"Yeah, thanks for helpin' me out though." The two boys looked at Katrina, as if they had just now noticed that she existed. She felt uncomfortable with them starring at her like that. She wanted them to stop. Stop looking at her like she was a freak. She couldn't help that she was in the tank. Why were they doing this to her? She looked out the glass at the people in white coats. They were saying something she couldn't hear. Of course, with so much stuff sticking out of your body, it was hard to concentrate on anything else. She heard something shatter in the background, and then a red light went of. A bell sounded and a voice came over the intercom shouting something about a security breach.   
"Hey..." a voice snapped her back to reality, "are you okay, Katrina," it was Trunks. He looked a little concerned. Goten was looking worriedly at her too.   
"Yeah...I'm fine. Sorry, I just sorta blanked out. It's probably because of all the changes that've happened in such a short time," Katrina lied, "It's all a bit overwhelming for me." For now, the lie seemed to work. Trunks and Goten just nodded their heads. "Yeah, I can see that," said Goten, "I mean, being in the hospital for a while, then coming to live here, and meeting Vegeta..."   
Trunks smirked at Goten. "You know, my dad isn't that bad once you get to know him. He's just a little..."   
"Scary? Antisocial? Insane?" Katrina laughed. It felt very good to do that again. She liked these two boys. They seemed to be really good friends. Like they had been through a lot together. Of course, Katrina had no idea how much. Ahhh, so you can laugh Goten thought.   
"So tell me, you have met Vegeta right," Goten questioned.   
"Yes, I have. He seemed a bit... high strung to me. Does he ever relax?" It was the boys' turn to laugh.   
"So, Katrina, my mom didn't tell me much about you, other than they found you and took you to the hospital. Why didn't your parents come and get you, are they okay?" "No... I mean...I don't know. I don't remember anything from before walking down the street. I don't know where my family is, or even if I have one for that matter." "Oh," Trunks fell silent for a few moments. "Hey guys, the food is ready!" The two boys jumped up and ran faster than Katrina thought humanly possible toward the food. She went downstairs and saw everyone gathered around the table and already eating. There were about thirty hamburgers and three bags worth of french fries. The most amazing part about this was that the guys were eating every bit of it. It wasn't human, the way they could pack away so much food. Bulma and Bra sat there, like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. She must have had a look of sorts on her face because Bulma motioned for Katrina to sit down next to her.   
"It's because they're saya-jins," Bulma said plainly.   
"There what?"   
"Saya-jins," Bulma repeated.   
"You mean, they're not human?"   
"Nope."   
"But..."   
"Let me explain..." Katrina didn't eat much during that lunch. She was too busy listening to Bulma explain all about the saya-jin race. Occasionally, Vegeta would correct her some of the details, but he was mostly busy with eating.   
"So that's about it. They're a warrior race. Trunks, Goten, Bra, Gohan, and Pan are all hybrids. Saya-jin and human genes mixed together."   
"And, your husband is the prince?"   
"Yes, but his ego is big enough as it is, so I wouldn't mention it around him."   
"I heard that woman!"   
"And what exactly do you plan to do about it?" Vegeta scowled and finished up eating. Once everyone was done, they cleaned up (all except for Vegeta, he'd gone back to training) and went back to whatever it was they were doing. Trunks, Goten and Katrina hung out for a few more hours. They didn't really talk about anything in particular. Soon it was dark outside, and Goten had to go home.   
"Want to come with," Trunks questioned.   
"Sure, how long will it take?"   
"Oh, only a little while."   
"Okay, so, where's the air car?"   
"Car? Oh that's right- um, we don't need cars."   
"Why not, what are you gonna do, fly to his house?" Trunks and Goten just looked at her and smiled.   
"No way. You guys fly too?"   
"Yeah, I thought my mother told you all about us."   
"Yeah, she said you're a warrior race and that you could make ki blasts and other stuff, but she forgot to mention that you could fly."   
"So can you?"   
"Can I what, fly? No way, I never thought it was possible."   
"Then come here." Katrina walked over to Trunks and he put her arms around his neck and picked her up. Katrina held on tightly and the three lifted off. It was an experience Katrina would never forget. The wind flew past them as they went on at break neck speed. She smiled and hugged Trunks closer, afraid that she might fall. She didn't notice but Trunks was blushing slightly. Goten, however, did and began to crack up. After a little bit, they arrived at the San house. Chi Chi came out and greeted the two boys, but stopped when she saw Katrina.   
"Who's this," she asked.   
"Oh, mom, this is Katrina, she'll be living with Trunks' family for a while."   
"Oh, nice to meet you."   
"Hi," Katrina said sheepishly.   
"Hey mom, where's dad?" Chi Chi went scarlet at the mention of Goku.   
"Oh that bum! He ate a huge lunch then said that he and Piccolo were going to go and train. But did he think for one moment who was going to have to clean up? Does he ever?! Uugghhh! Your father makes me so mad!" Goten led his fuming mother inside and then said his good-byes to Katrina and Trunks, who then made their way home. When they arrived back at Capsule Corp. Trunks let a shaky Katrina down.   
"That was the best experience I've ever had," She looked at Trunks and smiled, "Thank you."   
"No problem." When Katrina went to bed that night she kept going over the last part of the day. The way the wind felt going past her. How the ground looked as they sped past it. And his eyes. Trunks' eyes had held most of her attention during the flight. They were so...blue. There was always such a warm and caring feel to them. Every time she looked into them she had to smile. And...   
"And maybe you should go to sleep," she said aloud to herself. The next two months were fairly uneventful. The only thing that happened was the all-girls shopping excursion. Chi Chi, Videl, Pan, 18, Marron, Bulma, Bra, and Katrina all went shopping for a new wardrobe. She had a lot of fun, and met some new people. All day long they tried on outfits and talked. They came home exhausted, but happy. Goten would drop by a lot, or Trunks would go over to his house. Though they asked Katrina to come with, she usually declined saying that she was tired, or not feeling well. They'd always just shrug and go off to do...whatever it was they did. She always felt like a third wheel with those two. They would talk to her, but so far their friendship hadn't progressed much farther than what it had been the first day she came to live with the Briefs family. She and Vegeta had reached an unspoken agreement. She left him alone, and he left her alone. Both seemed satisfied with the arrangement. Katrina had become Bra's favorite playtime buddy. She wasn't afraid to play with dolls and was only a little reluctant to the occasional tea party. One thing Katrina was good at was playing dress-up. Bra's hair was long and easy to style. She was the little sister Katrina never had, or couldn't remember, and she treated her like one. The only exception was that they didn't fight like sisters do. The only unusual thing that happened was the monthly blood sample Bulma would take and analyze. She said it was to make sure Katrina was in good health. Bulma was a scientist, and probably knew what she was doing, so Katrina didn't question it. One morning Katrina woke up late, at about eleven a.m. No one seemed to be home. Katrina checked in the gravity chambers, the science wing, and the rest of the house, but no one was there. She checked in Bulma's room, and Bra's room, no one was to be found. She opened the door to Trunks' room and saw him sprawled out on the bed sleeping. She stifled a laugh as she noticed his blue Scooby-Doo boxers. She also noticed how nicely built his body was. Very nice she thought. She went over to his bedside and poked him. No response. So, she poked him again, this time a little harder. Still no response. A little bit frustrated with how soundly the teen slept, she shook him. This time, she got a response. Trunks, startled by the sudden awakening, jumped up and fell on the floor in front of Katrina in a heap, along with all the sheets. His hair was messy, and his eyes were still only half-open. He looked up at the person who had awoken him. His eyes widened a bit as he realized who it was.   
"Oh," he yawned, " It's you, wadda u ant," he said as he tried (and failed) to discourage another yawn.   
"Where is everybody?"   
"Oh yeah, well, mom woke me up at seven to tell me they were going out for the day and that they'd be back sometime tonight. I'd go over to Goten's, but he's sick. Hey, what time is it?"   
"Eleven thirty."   
"Mmmm...Okay then." He stifled yet another yawn, "Why don't you go downstairs and let me get dressed, then I'll make us some lunch."   
"Okay," Katrina walked over to the door; right before she left she looked back over at Trunks,   
"Hey Trunks?"   
"Hmmm?"   
"Nice boxers." Trunks' face went bright red as Katrina closed the door and went downstairs with a grin spread across her face. After they had eaten lunch, Katrina decided that she had been in her purple dragonfly pajamas long enough, and went upstairs to get changed. She took a quick shower and wore a semi-tight dark blue T-shirt with a regular pair of blue jeans. She looked for her hair tie and realized she had left it in one of the rooms down the science hall when she was looking for people earlier that morning. She walked pass Trunks, who was watching TV, and down to the room she had left the hair tie in. She didn't know it, but he had noticed her and followed silently a few feet behind. Katrina finally found the room it was in. Her hair tie lay innocently on the table, forgotten by its owner. Katrina picked it up and her hand was pricked by something. It was a needle. Suddenly, Katrina was no longer in the science room at Capsule Corp.   
"No, not again," She cried while squeezing her eyes shut and covering her ears. She was trying to get the images that were flashing in her head to go away. Her memories were coming back to haunt her once more... She was on a bed, but couldn't get up. The restraints on her wrists and ankles made sure of that. She wanted to get up but couldn't, she was struggling with all her might. A person in a white lab coat came up to her and another held her arm down as they injected something into her with a needle. Her arm recoiled as the sharp point pricked and entered her skin. "Why are you doing this to me," she shouted at the people around her,   
"Leave me alo- Aahhh!" She squirmed as the needle penetrated the skin on her other arm. They started to lift up her gown, exposing the upper portion of her leg to repeat the procedure they had done to her arms, which felt tingly from whatever it was they had managed to do. One of the scientists had come up right beside her. She reached her arm up, and was a little surprised to see the strap no longer restrained her arm. Reacting quickly to this newfound advantage, she grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt.   
"No," she hissed, "I won't let you mess with my body."   
"What? Katrina, snap out of it!"   
"Uhn..." she looked closer at the scientists face, it was Trunks, "Wha...What?" She looked at her surroundings and found she was back in the science room at Capsule Corp. She was lying in Trunks' lap, and she was grasping his collar.   
"Trunks..." she began, and her eyes filled with tears. She hated herself for them, but couldn't stop them from flowing from her eyes. Nor could she control the small pathetic sobs that came from deep within her.   
"It's okay... it's okay..." he said soothingly as he sat there and hugged Katrina. He had no idea what had just happened, but knew that it scared him and that he didn't want I to happen to her again. After a short time, Katrina's tears dried up, and the sobs subsided to a slight whimper, then were gone.   
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him. "What happened?"   
"I don't know. It's happened twice before. Once when I first met your mom, and then again when I blanked out in your room; when you and Goten were starring at me." "Well, what do you think it is?"   
"I think that it's my memories coming back to me. Something triggers them sporadically. But... none of my memories have ever been that violent."   
"Yeah, you went nuts. First you said something about not again and fell to the ground. I caught you before you landed, but then you started struggling."   
"And then?"   
"Then you asked me why I was doing this to you. You grabbed my shirt collar and finally seemed to snap out of it....... what did you see anyway?" A chill ran down Katrina's spine. What did she see?   
"I was tied down in a bed. These men... I guess they were scientists, were injecting things into my arms and legs. They were saying...something...but I couldn't make out what it was. It just doesn't, doesn't make any sense! Why would I remember something like that?! What the hell happened to me?! Why can't I remember!"   
Trunks and Katrina flinched as all the glass in the room shattered. The needle that pricked her completely melted, and a science textbook came bursting out of a locked drawer, flew across the room, hit the wall, and fell lifelessly on the ground. The two teens looked at each other with wide eyes, and promptly left the room. Trunks fixed a very shaken Katrina a small snack and then told her to go and watch some TV while he went to go clean up the mess in the science room.   
"No, I'll go with you," she said.   
"No you're not. I don't want you to have another...whatever it was that happened to you last time."   
"Trunks, it was a momentary thing. I don't think it'll happen again-"   
"So what happens if it does? I was terrified that you were hurt. I didn't know what I was going to do if you had broken something -or worse..." Trunks' blue eyes were intense with emotion as they pierced into Katrina. She had no idea he cared at all for her. Still, she wanted to help him; she felt like the shattering glass was her fault.   
"Trunks...I'm a big girl. I can handle it, it won't happen again I promise, but you have got to trust me, now let me help you."  
"Mmmmm..." Trunks sighed, "Fine, but you really had me scared there for a moment. I don't want you to go through that again." Without realizing it, Trunks had taken Katrina's hand into his as he spoke. Once he realized what he had done, he quickly let go and headed down to the lab, with Katrina at his heals. They grabbed brooms and a dustpan on their way, and the two managed to clean up all the glass in about half an hour. They pondered for a bit on how to get the melted needle off the science table. After scrapping at it, poking it, and even firing a small ki blast at it in frustration, it remained there. A rock hard blob on the otherwise neat little table.   
"Guess we'll just have to cover it up," Trunks finally said.   
"Yeah, but with what?" "Well, how about with that text book that flew out of the drawer?" Katrina looked down at the desk, and noticed a rather large hole that was in one of the drawers toward the bottom. When she tried to open it, she found it to be locked. Not that it made much difference; the hole made it easy to peer in and see the little diskette and videotape in there.   
"Ummmm.... I don't think the book flew out of this thing so much as it busted out," she commented as she showed her finding to Trunks.   
"Well where did it land," he asked no one in particular as he scanned the room, "Ah here it is." He found it in a far corner of the room; no glassware was by it, which is probably why they hadn't noticed it before. It was your average sized book, wasn't too thick either. The navy blue covering on it had the words Experimentation on Psychic Abilities on the front in small yellow letters. Trunks opened the book up and began to read silently: Over the past several Years, Certain threats have overtaken the earth. While the military has attempted to stop these occurrences with their formidable manpower and technology, they have fallen short every time. Small footage clips from the encounter with the android known only as Cell have been analyzed by top government scientists, and it has been concluded that the power that Cell had was in fact a reality. It was also concluded that the power contained within Cell was more than ever thought imaginable to put into a single being. While the military is still investigating how Dr. Gero could have accomplished such a feat, his long sought after laboratory has yet to be found by intelligence agents...   
"Hey Trunks," Katrina cut in. Trunks stopped reading and snapped the book closed. Why would his mom have something like that in her lab?   
"What's wrong with you Trunks?"   
"It's nothing, I'm just tired is all. Here," He said placing the book on top of the melted needle, "This should do the trick."   
"But what if Bulma still sees it, will she still be mad?"   
"I don't think she comes in here that often. She usually hangs out in the room with all the electronic stuff. She likes to tinker around with robotics. You know, she's the one that made the androids that my father and I train with."   
"Oh." Trunks looked at Katrina and sighed. "Wanna go somewhere?"  
"Where?"   
"I don't know, anywhere but here. I don't like how it feels in this room."   
"Sure," answered Katrina. She wasn't exactly fond of the room either. They ended up going to a nearby park and just sort of walked around. They talked about everything imaginable. They found out a lot about each other. As the day went on they got some ice cream and sat down on a bench to watch the other people roam around. "Hey Trunks?" "Hmmm?"   
"When you fly, how do you do it?"   
"..." Trunks just shrugged, "I never really think about it, it's just something I do."   
"Do you think I could?"   
"Yes..." Trunks said carefully, "but it's not an easy thing to learn for humans."   
"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean?"   
"Just that what's easy for saya-jins to learn may not be easy for humans to learn also."   
"So will you still teach me?"   
"...Sure." Katrina smiled and hugged Trunks, who was caught of guard, so he almost choked on his last bit of ice cream. Fortunately for him, he just ended up swallowing a bit more than he wanted to.   
"When do we start?"   
"Well, you gotta give me a while, I have to figure out a way to teach you how to..."he trailed off as he started thinking. He just sort of sat there, going through each step of the flying process. Katrina watched the kids play. It was getting near dark and Katrina turned and gave Trunks a little shove.   
"Look."   
"At what?"  
"The sunset..." It was as if the sun was setting the sky on fire. The sun was a ball of orange fire that turned to red, which melted into pink and finally cooled into a purple blue color. It looked like a picture. Katrina still hadn't let go of Trunks' arm as she took in the scenery.   
"Katrina?" She looked over at Trunks who was giving her a look she hadn't seen before on his face. It wasn't anger, sadness, it was happy almost, but she couldn't put her finger on it...what was it? Their faces leaned in closer together. Katrina's heart raced. What in the world was she doing? She was his friend; she only had gotten to know him well today. But it was right, her whole mind and body were screaming at her that it was. Just kiss him, she thought. She could feel his slow breath on her... he was so close. Just let it happen she thought all this suspense was making her nervous. Just let it....   
  
  
  



	3. Dark Past- Ch. 3

Chapter 3   
A loud crash followed by an earsplitting boom made the two's head jerk around and thus, ruined the moment. Behind them a rather large tree branch had fallen. They both just sat there in an uncomfortable silence starring at the branch like it was the most interesting thing in the world.   
"Hey..." Katrina finally broke the awkward silence, " I-It's getting dark, shouldn't we go back home, I'll bet your mom and everybody's back."   
"Yeah..." Trunks nodded, and so they went home. Bulma and the others weren't home yet, so they decided to watch a movie. They sat on opposite ends of the couch, neither one watched the movie much, both of their minds were racing. What was I doing? Katrina thought. It felt so right, but then... Ugh! It's so confusing. I can't stop thinking about him! I don't know what to do with this feeling! There're so many things I want answered! When we were in that room today... And what was in that book he was looking at? It seemed to be important by the way that he was acting. The flashbacks are getting more violent also. I swear if get one more emotion put up in me I'll explode...then little pieces of me will be everywhere. She pictured this and smiled a little. On the other side of the couch, Trunks' thoughts were running along the same line. What was I thinking? She probably doesn't feel the same way I do. But if she didn't feel the same way why did she lean in? Does that mean she likes me or that she just got caught up in the moment? That book in mom's laboratory...why was it there? I think it may have something to do with Katrina's past. From what she's told me of the flashbacks she may have been-   
"Concentrating awfully hard on the movie don't you think," someone cut in. The two jumped at the voice; it was Vegeta.   
"Oh, it's you," Katrina said, "Where's Bulma?"   
"Upstairs putting the child to bed."   
"So...uh...how did it go?" Vegeta glared at Katrina. "Or maybe not..." she said quietly. Vegeta mumbled something about how much he loathed shopping and then went upstairs to bed. Trunks turned to Katrina and was about to tell her something, but she beat him to it.   
"It's ten thirty, I think we should go to bed." Okay, so it wasn't what he had wanted, or expected her to say, but his nerve to talk to her about that afternoon was quickly shriveling up, so he just nodded and followed her upstairs. During the next week Trunks and Katrina did a lot of things with each other. They went to the movies, the beach, and even went to go visit the sick Goten to wish him well. The day of the flashback and the glass shattering was all but forgotten between the two friends. They were spending a lot of time together, which is something that didn't go unnoticed.   
"I don't like it," Vegeta mumbled one night as he and Bulma got ready for bed. "Don't like what honey?"   
"That human girl... she's spending way too much time with Trunks."   
"I think it's nice. I was afraid that they didn't like each other, but they seem to be getting along great now."   
"Hmph."   
"Oh Vegeta," Bulma said, and climbed over the bed to where he was standing with his arms crossed. She kissed him and he cracked a small smile.   
"That's better," she said... Katrina waited until everyone had gone to sleep to go look for the book Trunks had read a week earlier. She hadn't forgotten about it...or Trunks for that matter. He was on her mind 24/7. If she wasn't thinking of him, she was usually sleeping. She quickly and quietly made her way to the laboratory and found the navy blue book, she opened it and began to read:   
Over the past several Years, Certain threats have overtaken the earth. While the military has attempted to stop these occurrences with their formidable manpower and technology, they have fallen short every time. Small footage clips from the encounter with the android known only as Cell have been analyzed by top government scientists, and it has been concluded that the power that Cell had was in fact a reality. It was also concluded that the power contained within Cell was more than ever thought imaginable to put into a single being. While the military is still investigating how Dr. Gero could have accomplished such a feat, his long sought after laboratory has yet to be found by intelligence agents. Since the time of what the military has dubbed "the Cell Crisis", another threat arose to challenge the fate of the earth. Once again the military attempted to oppose this threat, and was crushed. The same mysterious team of warriors that showed themselves during other times of crisis arose once again to take action. Of these same warriors, some have entered the World Martial Arts Tournament. During this event members of our intelligence agency have kept a video record of the abilities of each warrior, along with their stats and battle technique. It was hoped that by acquiring this information that the military could further develop weapons to use against any threat that that may rise again. However, it is feared that to put such an extraordinary amount of power into a simple weapon (i.e. Bombs and tanks) would make the devise so complex that a simple and singular flaw could endanger the lives of countless civilians. It was then that the military turned to one Bulma Briefs, head of Capsule Corporation, and considered somewhat of an authority figure on things such as androids similar to those that were created by Dr.Gero. She was asked to create an android with the power of or exceeding that of Cell. She refused, saying that as long as the warriors existed, that there was no need to create such a thing. She also pointed out that Cell had gone beyond his original programming and had turned on his master, as had the androids 17, 18, and 19. The military then anonymously asked Dr. Geode, who had worked closely with Dr. Gero before his disappearance, to perform that same task. Although his record was not one of good history, he was the most predominant in his knowledge of Androids and human genetics. He too pointed out the flaw of disobedience in the androids, but agreed to do the project on the terms of full funding, and no questions asked. The two sides finally came to an agreement: The military would fund his project, but only if he gave them a progress report every six months. It was also agreed that Dr. Geode could use any means necessary to obtain the final product of which the military desired. However, if the media, or anyone else other than top officials found out about the project, it was made clear that the military would pull the plug and deny all prior knowledge of the incident. The following are from six years' worth of experimentation and work put in by one Dr. Geode. These are his annual six-month reports gathered by the military after his sudden and unexplained disappearance one year ago. The code name for this operation is 22051. Katrina put the book down in amazement. This must be top secret, she thought. No wonder Trunks had looked so concerned when he read it. But how could Bulma have obtained a copy of something like this? Maybe they gave it to her after Dr. Geode's disappearance. Why was it in a locked drawer then? Should she not have it? And if she isn't supposed to have it, then how and why does she? Could it have something to do with her past? Perhaps that's why Capsule Corp. had rung a bell in the hospital. Katrina was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't notice that Trunks had once again followed hr into the room.   
"What're you doing," he asked. Katrina jumped a few feet into the air at the sound of his voice. After she had realized who it was, she calmed down a bit and instructed her heart to get out of her throat and to start beating slower.   
"Trunks, you startled me. What are you doing up so late?"  
"I could ask you the same question," he said coolly and folded his arms Vegeta style across his chest.   
"I...you see..." she stuttered and finally found the words she wanted, "The reason I'm here is because of this book," she held it up for Trunks to see, "When I saw you read it, you had this look on your face, so I wanted to see what it was about."   
"And did you?"   
"Well, yes, come here and look." She held the book out to Trunks, who took it and picked up where he had last left off. Katrina studied his face the whole time, trying her hardest to know what he was thinking. How could they ask mother to do something like that, she heard him say. "Nani?"   
"I didn't say anything."   
"Yes you did."   
"When?"   
"Just now, you said 'how could they ask my mother to do something like that?'" "No I didn't"   
"Yes you did."   
"Where do you get off telling me what I did and did not say?"   
"Where do you get off telling me what I did and did not hear?"   
"Okay, yeah, maybe I was thinking it, but I never said it aloud."   
"Well," said a frustrated Katrina, "think a little more quietly for me okay?"   
"Fine."   
"Fine." When he finally finished he scanned through the other pages.   
"Wild," he said, "this must have been top secret stuff. Look, all the writing from here on out is encrypted." He held out the book for Katrina to see. It was encrypted, very well by the looks of it. All she saw was: Yes, this really does say something, you should be proud that you discovered this does say something. I'll let you in on a little sescret: Katrina is a science projest, But what kind? You'll hav to keep reading to find out!! She let out a low whistle.   
"That's pretty messed up. But I think this may have something to do with my past, and one way or another, I'm going to find out what this says."   
"I agree. Listen, one of my moms' inventions was a device that could crack the toughest codes. I bet if we download this into it we could find out more." The two made their way down to the other part of the science wing as quietly as they could. Once Trunks was done putting the information in the small computer like device he turned to Katrina.   
"Now it's just a matter of time before it figures out what it means."   
"Can you get an estimate of how long it'll take?"  
"I... think so," he said as he punched some more buttons. Green words flashed across the screen and as Katrina read them, her face fell.   
"Three weeks," she moaned miserably, "I'll go crazy from suspense in three weeks."   
"Well, I'll just have to keep your mind off it until then."   
"And how do you plan to do that?"   
  
  
  



	4. Dark Past- Ch.4

Chapter 4  
The next morning Katrina got woken up at seven a.m. by a very enthusiastic Trunks.   
"Wake up lazy bones," he said as he roused her.   
"Go away," she mumbled, and wrapped the covers more tightly around herself. "Oh no you don't," Trunks said as he pulled the covers, and therefore Katrina off the bed and onto the floor.   
"Hey-ouch! That hurt," she exclaimed as she landed with a thud.   
"Awake yet?"   
"Yes," came the flat reply.   
"Then go take a shower and get dressed, it's time for your first flying lesson!" The next two weeks consisted of waking up at seven each morning to start training, and coming in at nine at night. Trunks not only taught her how to fly, but was also putting in sparring technique and showing her how to concentrate her ki into a single spot to form a small blast during their training sessions. It was hard work, but Katrina didn't mind it so much when Trunks was the one teaching her. Those first two weeks kept Katrina's mind off anything but training and Trunks. She wasn't the best at sparring, nor was she anywhere near the strength that the others possessed. All the same, she was getting stronger little by little every day. By her third week of training, Katrina could fly without any problems whatsoever. Her speed and strength had doubled, as had the soreness in her muscles when she woke up each morning. The day before the results came out from the decoding machine; Katrina woke up and found that she couldn't move.   
"Shhhiit..." she hissed as she finally managed to get up, and felt pain cutting into each of her muscles like fire. Once seven thirty came around, Trunks came in to see what was taking so long; she was fifteen minutes late. He walked in her room and found Katrina on the floor in pain.   
"Kat, what's wrong," he said. Kat was a nickname he had started to use for her during their training sessions.   
"My...m-muscles won't...let me m-move," she managed to say as she slowly got up. Trunks quickly went to her and helped her over to the bed.   
"Maybe you should take a day off from training," he suggested.   
"No, I can get through it, I'm fine," Katrina argued. She got up and something in her knee clicked, she shouted in pain and sat back down.   
"Kat look at you! You're hurting too badly for me to let you train. I'll just give you today off and tomorrow we'll start up again. You're body's not used to all the exercise you're getting. It's trying to tell you to take it easy."   
"I will not be weak! My body is just giving me a hard time. All I need is a hot shower, that should help."   
"You're acting like my father Kat, don't be so stubborn."   
"I am not being stubborn. I'll meet you out in the usual spot in twenty minutes. If you're not there, I'll go into the gravity room and train with the androids instead." Trunks sighed as he watched Katrina get up and (wincing with each step) make her way to the bathroom to take a shower. She's just as bad as my father, he thought as he made his way to their little spot outside. Still, he wanted her to train with him and not the androids. They were ruthless, and she could get seriously injured if she worked out with them in her condition.   
"Katrina..." he said softly to himself.   
"Aww man have you got it bad..." a familiar voice teased. Trunks looked up to see that Goten was standing in front of him. He looked a lot better than he did when he and Katrina had last visited him. Goten stood with an amused look on his face.   
"What have I got," Trunks asked.   
"You got it bad for Katrina don't you?"   
"What? No I don't! I j-just..." Trunks stammered.   
"I-I-I," Goten said mockingly, "Yeah whatever Trunks, you're drooling over her admit it! I may have been sick, but I wasn't delusional, I saw the way you looked at her when you came to visit me."   
"I don't know what you're talking about I..."   
"But you know what? I think she like you too."   
"I- what? Really, you think so?"   
"MmmmHmmm."   
"Hmmmmm.........." Trunks thought about this for a few seconds. Maybe Goten was right, after all he was better at these things.   
"Well...so what if I do," Trunks said looking up at Goten.   
"Well, maybe I could help you out. You know, give a clueless friend some advice. Find out if she like you (which I'm sure she does). Put in a good word. You know, the usual."   
"Fine, but when will you-"  
"Just leave it to the master," Goten said reassuringly.   
"Oh hey Goten, glad to see you're feeling better," Katrina said as she came up from behind the two boys.   
" Speak of the devil..." Trunks hit Goten as he walked over to her.   
"So are you ready?"   
"Yup. Let's start!"   
"Okay, we'll begin with some light sparring." Trunks and Katrina both got into stances and waited for the other to make the first move. Trunks started off and threw a punch at Katrina who dodged it and retaliated with a kick. Trunks blocked it and knocked Katrina on the ground. He was about to strike her when she rolled out of the way and jumped back up. She ran at him and went for his chest but he caught her fist. "You're slow today," he said and started to squeeze. Katrina's face twisted in pain as his grip became harder and harder. She finally kicked him in the stomach and he let go.   
"Now let's turn it up a notch. Use energy blasts now, try and knock me down." Katrina concentrated and shot one at Trunks, aiming for his chest. Her aim was a little off, and it hit him in the stomach. He recoiled, but not much as he prepared his own blast and fired it at Katrina, who moved out of the way a little too late. It ended up hitting the back of her hand. Katrina then went running at Trunks and fired a blast at short range. Trunks lost his balance and Katrina took the opportunity to tackle him down. Her plan worked, and the two went flying and hit the ground with a thud. Goten went over to where they had landed.   
"Hey you beat him," he exclaimed as he helped Katrina to her feet,   
"You okay?"   
"Yeah, Trunks broke my fall," she said as she helped Trunks up. "Nice job, but you were still slow today. I suppose that you wouldn't be if you had listened to someone..."   
"Oh come off it Trunks," Katrina said as she hit him and left a bloody handprint on his shirt, "Oh man, I'm sorry your shirt-"   
"Never mind the shirt, look at you hand."   
"Wow," Goten commented as he looked at her, "That's a whole mess of blood. Maybe we should take you inside and clean you up before you continue training." Katrina looked as if she was wearing a crimson glove.   
"Perhaps," she said as they led her inside. Once they cleaned her up, they put some hydrogen peroxide on the wound to clean it out. They topped it off with wrapping a bandage around her hand, and then they got back to training. Katrina had a good time training with Goten and Trunks. She didn't feel like the third wheel with them anymore. They trained hard, but still goofed off once in a while. It was getting near dark and the trio had started up with sparring again. Katrina was hurting pretty bad, but tried not to show it as Goten came at her with a barrage of kicks. The boys didn't go all out with Katrina because they knew she had just started out. She did a back flip to get away from him and landed wrong on her leg. She doubled over in pain as her body fell limp and she landed hard on the ground. Trunks and Goten came over to her and tried to figure out was wrong.   
"I think you tore a muscle," Trunks said after a brief examination.   
"I'd say he's right," Goten agreed.   
"I'd hate to say I told you so but..." Trunks trailed off.   
"Ughh... okay so maybe I should have stayed off it, but there's nothing I can do about it now is there," Katrina said as she sat there on the ground. She tried to get up, but her leg gave out again and she fell to the ground.   
"Here..." Trunks said as he picked her up and carried her to the house. Goten just nodded and followed them inside.   
"I knew it..." They bandaged Katrina up again and set her down on the couch. Katrina started to take off the bandage on her wounded hand.   
"What are you doing," Goten said as he looked over at her.   
"Trying to see if it's any better." Katrina took off the bandage and saw some strange markings on it. She told Trunks to turn on the light so she could get a better look at it. The three stared at the strange writing.   
"That gash in your hand cut it in half, but it looks like a tattoo of some kind. I didn't know you had one of those Katrina," Goten commented as he peered closer at...whatever it was.   
"I don't." Katrina's mind sent the new information around to connect it with something, but she just drew a blank. It had to do with something important. She just knew it. But...oh if only she could remember! It reminded her of something she had seen before, some image in her memory, something that was right on the tip of her tongue, the edge of her mind. But for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was.   
"It looks like a set of numbers," Trunks noted.   
"22051-26," Katrina said coldly.   
"What," Trunks said in disbelief, 22051 was the name of the project they had read about earlier, but that meant,   
"I was right.......but then that means.......oh no.....Kat...." That means that what Katrina had been trying to deny so long to herself was true. She was an experiment. A test subject from a government funded project. From the moment she had had her third flashback, she had suspected, but decided she was overreacting. When she read the book it had all come together. But she was in denial about all of the evidence. No, she couldn't be an experiment. The fact that Bulma had paid special attention to her recovery in the hospital when she wasn't a doctor. The fact that she took her into her own home. Maybe she thought she was too dangerous to live with a normal one. The monthly blood tests, must have been to make sure the experimentation wasn't going to make her go insane, like it did to numbers 10-14. They also must have taken her mother away and killed her so she didn't interfere with their work. That was the reason she had remembered being in a tank. That was why she was strapped down in the bed. They were injecting things into her, to try and make her the perfect soldier, a weapon they could use in a war. A type of puppet...   
"Katrina! Katrina snap out of it," Trunks worried voice came into Katrina's mind and brought her back from her thoughts.   
"What's going on," Goten questioned with a stern look on his face.   
"Look, it's," Trunks began.   
"Show him," Katrina demanded.   
"Show him what?"   
"The book we found." Trunks picked Katrina up and told Goten to follow him. They went down the science hall and into the lab where it all had started a couple weeks ago.   
"Here, read this," Trunks said handing Goten the book,   
"Then you'll understand." Trunks went over to Katrina and took her hand into his. "It's okay," he said. Katrina just looked at him sadly; they then watched Goten in silence as he read the report. When he was done he looked up at Katrina in astonishment. "That means..."   
"I'm an experiment," she finished for him.   
"No, you can't be..."   
"But it all makes sense. The reason Trunks' mom took an interest in my recovery, the reason she took all those blood samples and analyzed them every month. You guys, she knew and wanted to make sure I didn't malfunction or something. The flashbacks, that damned book...it all fits together!"   
"But what do we do now," Goten said quietly.   
"We wait and see what the decoder says tomorrow," Trunks said angrily.  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Dark Past- Ch.5

Chapter 5   
The next few hours of waiting were remembered by Katrina to be the most suspenseful in all of her life. Goten had called his mom, and got permission to spend the night. While the two boys tried to sleep in Trunks' room, Katrina tried fitfully to spend the night in her own. At about one thirty she could fight it no longer, and finally fell asleep. Her dreams however, were no comfort... Katrina was kicking and screaming with all her might, how dare they do this to me, she thought. She saw her mom doing the same on the other side of the room. She was using language that would have made a sailor blush, but how could you blame her, when she had just seen her family torn apart? Two faces flashed in Katrina's mind. They were that of a man and a little girl. The man had the same shade of hair and eye color Katrina possessed. This must be my Father she realized. He smiled and hugged a small girl closer to him. The girl looked just like her mom, Katrina thought. She had the same fiery red hair and wild green eyes. That must be my sister. But what had happened to them? Were they killed along with her mom? Or were they spared? Could they be living somewhere wondering where she was? Katrina was back in the strange looking room kicking and screaming. She wanted these men to leave her alone. She recognized on of them from her flashback of being in the bed when they had injected that... whatever it was into her. She leaned over and bit one of the guys hard in the arm. She tasted his blood in her mouth, but did not let go, even as he started to yell. The two men were distracted long enough for Katrina to push them away and attempt an escape.   
"That's it Katrina! Run! Run away as fast as you can," came her mothers' voice. Katrina obeyed and took off in the direction she knew would take her out of that awful place. She was stopped short, however, by the man she had bitten. He looked at her and swore.   
"You little whore, now your gonna pay!" He ran at her and beat her down to the ground. A sharp pain came across Katrina's back, and she cried out as her body made an impact with the floor.   
"No! My baby! Leave her alone you son of a bitch," her mom screamed as she continued to struggle. Katrina started to get up, and the man just beat her down more and more each time she tried. Her back was on fire with an anguish she had never before felt in her life. Tears were streaming down her eyes-it was too much. She was only thirteen, she should be at the mall with her friends, checking out boys and trying on clothes. Playing video games and going to the movies...not this...anything ...but...this... This was the last of her thoughts as the man finally beat her unconscious. The last sounds she heard were of her mother pleading for her child's' safety. When Katrina woke up, she found herself in a type of room, or more like a cell, a prison cell. She sat on a simple white bed. A single window nine feet above her provided her only link to the outside world. Its beam of light was chopped by the shadow of bars that ensured she couldn't escape. There was a sink, and in a small closed off section, a toilet. What she guessed was a force field made the need for prison bars in front of her cell obsolete. She at least had a clear view of what was going on in front of her cell, but that wasn't saying much due to the fact it was nothing but a plain concrete wall. She wondered how much time had passed between this memory and the last, but guessed it must have been more than a few weeks. Some men in white lab coats (Katrina guessed it was the uniform) came up right outside her cell and swiped a card in a slot. It gave a small beep and then they entered a set of numbers. The device then gave a louder and longer beep and the force field disappeared. The two men walked over to Katrina and proceeded to pick her up. She would have fought back, but her spirit was gone. She no longer cared what they did to her, as far as she was concerned she already felt dead inside. They brought her into the dark room she recognized from one of her flashbacks. They put her into a special bodysuit and placed her on a platform. She sat there as a machine stuck various tubes and monitoring devices all over her body. They gave her an oxygen mask and then backed away. A tube shaped glass barrier separated her from the people outside. It filled with a liquid that wasn't entirely transparent. She knew what was coming next, and waited patiently for it to happen. Unlike her previous flashback, she could hear what they were saying this time.   
"Boost the dosage to 1789 mg's"   
"Affirmative, boosting dosage now." Katrina winced slightly as the tubes sticking out of her body expanded from the increase of liquid.   
"Okay, now," A loud crash followed bay a bell and that same voice yelling about a security breach were heard by Katrina. Some frantic yelling was going on outside the confines of her little tank.   
"Who is it?!"   
"22051-25 sir!"   
"Damn her! She's probably come for number twenty six!"   
"What course of action do you want us to take sir?"   
"Don't kill her! But find her before she gets in here! Remember I want her ALIVE!"   
"Yes sir!"   
"Dr. Geode what do you propose we do now?"   
"Keep up with the process! I'll search the F-1 corridor to see if she's down there!" "Yes sir!" Katrina heard footsteps and after a few minutes it was quiet again. With the exception that the alarm that was going off of course. The scientists had gone back to proceeding with the experiment, and Katrina wondered if this would be the end of her memory. But then she heard the door open again.   
"Did you find her Dr.-" She heard the woman gasp, and a tearing sound followed. Blood splattered on the glass of her tank. Katrina heard three more men yells and then more blood landed across the glass. She was unsure of whether or not this was a good thing. On one side this could be someone here to rescue her. On the other side, it could be something committing a random act of violence, in which case would mean that she was pretty much screwed. All her fears were dispelled though as a machine removed the tubes attached to her body. Her savoir then came up to the glass and put her hand on it. Her mothers' green eyes still hadn't lost the spirit in them. Her hair was still that flaming red color. Unfortunately, that was all that remained the same on her mother's features. There were deep bags right under her eyes. Her face wasn't as youthful looking as they had been since last they'd met. Her figure was slightly smaller than it used to be. Her grim face was set in determination. Katrina placed her had up to her mothers' as they stared at each other for a brief moment.   
"I will get you out of here," her mom said. Katrina looked up and saw a team of what she guessed were security guards silently stalking up behind her mother.   
"Mom look out behind you," she tried to yell, but the oxygen mask silenced her words. The only effect yelling had done was to make a mass of bubbles come out from the sides of her mask. But that was enough for her mom to realize something wasn't right. She turned around and was caught off guard by the small assembly of men. They took hold of the woman and tried to inject a serum into her, but the needle went flying across the room. So they tried the direct approach and used the electric shockers that they were wearing on their belts. It seemed to work, and they dragged her moms' unconscious body off to someplace. Katrina put both her hands up to the glass. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Dr. Geode came back into the room and tsk tsked at the bloody bodies lying on the floor.   
"Weren't too careful there were we," he said as he looked at Katrina, "don't worry though my precious, I won't let anything happen to my most valuable specimen." Katrina fought back the chunks that were rising in her throat. She didn't like this dream anymore; she hadn't from the start. She wanted out, and she wanted out now. But it wasn't that easy, and her memories weren't through with her yet... She found herself sitting back in her cell when the same guys in uniform came up to her. They repeated the procedure much as they had last time, but this time they brought her to a smaller darker room with a bed in the center. A light fixture was directly above the bed. As they brought her closer, she noticed the bed has leather straps on it.   
"Oh no..." she murmured, as she knew what was coming next. They strapped her down and it started, she screamed and struggled, and they injected her arms and legs with that same damn liquid. This time, her arm wouldn't come out of the strap.   
"There now," the man she recognized as Dr. Geode said, "That wasn't so bad was it? Just think, in a few weeks we shall reap the benefits of all this hard work. Then you'll be the greatest achievement in the entirety of my whole career. Doesn't that make you happy?"   
"F*** off you lunatic," Katrina spat at him.   
"Hmmm... such strong words. But-I'm sorry you feel that way, take her back to her cell." They undid the restraints her and had to literally carry her back to her 'home'. The injections had made her whole body feel like it was asleep. She lied in her bed and hoped that somehow she could wake up. She looked at her left hand. The numbers 22051-26 were clearly etched on it. She woke up with a start. She looked over at her clock, the numbers 4:37 a.m. flashed across it. She sighed and decided that she needed to get something to eat. When she came hobbling to the last step she saw Trunks sitting at the table with his arms crossed, he looked really pissed but concerned at the same time. He looked up and saw Katrina.   
"I..." she whispered and realized a tear had slid down her face. No, she thought, I must be strong. For myself as well as others. I can take this. I have to. This is my past and I must deal with it myself. As the tears started to flow in greater number she realized she was ashamed of every one of them. She didn't want to seem like as though she wasn't strong enough to deal with the problem that faced her, It didn't seem natural, it just didn't seem part of who she was. Trunks said nothing, but walked over and embraced the shaken girl in his arms and held her close. Katrina wrapped her arms around his waist and silently cried until her tears ran dry. Somehow, when she was in his arms, she had this feeling that she was safe. Like so long as he held her there, the whole world couldn't bother her. No matter what problem arose to chase her, no matter what demon from her past came to confront her, it didn't stand a chance. Not so long as he was there with her. The rest of the world didn't matter...only the two of them. Safe together...forever... Katrina forgot when exactly they had sat down on the couch, or fallen asleep for that matter, but they woke up at six thirty a.m. Trunks went upstairs to get Goten while Katrina stayed on the couch and waited for the two's return. Her leg didn't hurt quite as much as it had the previous night, but it was still too sore to put all her weight on it. She would need to be helped down to the Decoding machine. She wondered briefly about what the machine would tell them. Maybe it was all some horrific misunderstanding. Of course she knew that wouldn't be the case, but still... Perhaps the machine would tell her where her father and sister were; she didn't even know their names, or her mothers' for that matter. She could find out where they lived or something, get in contact with them, and... Her thoughts were cut short when Trunks came back down the stairway with a somewhat sleepy Goten following close behind. Trunks picked Katrina up and carried her down to their destination; it would be faster that way. They walked in as the computer was finishing up the last few parts of the decoding process. A little timer had appeared at the bottom right hand corner of the screen and was counting down the seconds until it long awaited task was finally completed. The three teens sat around the device with anxious looks on their faces. 10... 9...what would it reveal to them? 8...7...what sort of experiments did they perform? 6...5...who were the test subjects? 4...3...was Katrina the only one? 3...2...what had happened to her family? 1............................................................................. ................................................ 


	6. Dark Past- Ch.6

Chapter 6   
  
The three sat there as the symbols turned into words they recognized. They sat there, reading to themselves:   
  
Progress Report #1- Project #22051- Year #1   
I have selected a location that I found to be suitable to conduct the experiments. My entire facility has successfully been completed as of two months prior to this report. I have sent the location and blueprints for my Laboratory to you on two disks via one of your spies. The materials to undergo the awesome task you have asked me to perform have been acquired, except for one, but the mistake is easily rectified. I have started a small embryo, and once the last element is applied, it will start the growing progress.   
  
  
"Well that was brief," Goten commented.   
"What disks could he be talking about," Katrina asked.   
"I don't know, but we'd better hurry through these, the rest of my family should wake up in about an hour, and I don't want to be caught here. Not yet."   
  
  
Progress Report #2- Project #22051- Year #1   
  
Embryos #22051-1 through #22051-5 have all been a failure. All these attempts have been assessed, and the problems have been solved. I have to expand my facility as soon as possible, due to the enormous amount of space the equipment has taken up. However we are concerned about the attention this would attract if we were to be seen. Granted our location is remote, we see it in the best interest of the final project you desire if the military would assist us in this move. Embryo #22051-6 has just gotten underway. All vital signs are strong and normal. We hope to have the first android born sometime within the next month if all goes well, however, this is unlikely due to the complexity of the project.   
  
  
"So what does that mean," Katrina asked turning to Trunks, "If androids are supposed to be machines, then how come he's growing on from an embryo?"   
"Cell wasn't exactly made of metal. He was an organic life form from what everyone's' told me, but he was still an android."   
"Oh."   
"Hey," Goten said, "You two ready to go on?"   
"Yup."   
  
  
Progress Report #3- Project #22051- Year #2   
Embryos #22051-6 and -7 have both failed. Though they were born, their vitals quickly faded shortly after they were fully operational. Since then, we have adopted a new method of growing the embryos, and this new method has been determined to have a 110% increased posterity rate. Embryos #22051-8 and -9 have been successfully 'born'. Since the time of their 'birth', they have undergone several tests In order to determine the power level they may reach. They tested positive and were immediately sent into a training program to harness their powers until we can program the tactics desired into them. In the video sent to you, the military may view these exercises first hand.   
  
  
"So he actually managed to do it," Goten quietly said.   
"I wonder when he decided to use human test subjects," Katrina questioned out loud.  
  
  
Progress Report #4- Project #22051- Year #2   
  
Numbers 8 and 9 were destroyed exactly one month after the last progress report. The disobedience that was seen in Cell was all too evident as they refused order after order they were receiving. This defiance was seen two weeks after coming online. I have been running vigorous tests on their main programming to find the problem. It seems that in giving them room to think for themselves in order to adapt to different combat conditions, we allow them too much independent thought. Independent thought eventually leads to rebellion in these artificial life forms. Therefore, we are beginning to undergo a process in which we can allow the future androids to react properly to changing combat conditions, while at the same time restraining the freedom of thought to a strictly combatant level. It is hoped that by doing this, Android #22051-10 will not only be obedient, but powerful as well. We are making breakthroughs never thought imaginable in the scientific community. Enclosed along with this report are some statistics of the fighters we have gathered data on. We are programming all these moves into the main software of the androids.   
  
  
"How many more do we have left to go?" Trunks asked.   
  
"Eight."   
  
  
Progress Report #5- Project #22051- Year #3   
  
Androids #22051-10 through -14 have malfunctioned. It took a week to find them within our facility. I have suffered minor casualties-considering the power these androids possess. By limiting their thought functions we had made their program mutate and break the blockades I placed to prevent any disobedience. This mutation contaminated the other parts of their programs, resulting in a change of target. Instead of having the target of the training robots, they had no target. This caused a program flaw, due to the fact that they were supposed to have a mark of some sort at all times. Because of this, they went off in search of something to destroy. After apprehending the four androids I had to annihilate all of them. Following the examination of their programs, I have decided to take a new approach to put the power into an obedient unit. Test subjects have been found to practice this procedure on. Enclosed with this report are the details on both the program and test subjects. I have gotten the go ahead from officials and started certain tests and courses to make sure #22051-15 and #22051-16 are successful. So far all has gone well.   
  
  
"I think he's talking about testing humans now," said Katrina.   
"I think you're right, but what I want to know is how this guy sleeps at night knowing what he's doing. This guy must have been a monster!" Trunks said.   
  
  
Progress Report #6- Project #22051- Year #3   
The two test subjects have been responding so well to the treatment, I have acquired more similar to them. It is hoped that the other two will respond as well as the first set. I have already sent you the results from just a few of the experiment results, and as you can see, they are phenomenal.   
  
  
"Okay you guys, we'll have to come back and read the rest after this one, I can hear my dad starting to come down stairs."   
  
  
Progress Report #7 Project #22051- Year #4   
We have reached a breaking point in our research. #22051-16 was able to reach her maximum capability. Unfortunately, her body was not able to handle this surge in power, thus causing her body to disintegrate. The same unfortunate truth goes for #22051-15. After reaching his full power, he too met the same fate. However, from these occurrences, I have been able to see that to put this sort of power into a machine, no matter how complex, is practically impossible due to the AI that must be inserted into each of them. To put this ability into a normal human body would cause the sudden surge of power to be too much to handle, and they would end up destroying themselves. It is with this information that I say I have come up with an entirely different program. This will not only ensure complete obedience, but also incorporate the same power into a soldier. The only difference is that it will not be physical, but mental. The power will be just as devastating to an opponent, however, it will be inflicted a differently. I have started the first android with psychic abilities. Its embryo is growing nicely and it should be up and running within a month after this report. By this time, everyone in the house was up and wandering around somewhere.   
  
  
"Hey, I thought you said it'd be at least an hour," Goten fumed, " it's only been thirty five minutes."   
"So sue me! We can come back sometime later today and finish it."   
"How can you be sure that we'll get to see them today?"   
"Well, mom's got work, dad's too busy with his training to notice anything else, and Bra's going over to Gohan's house to play with Pan today."   
"And how do you know this?"   
"I heard my mom talking about it yesterday night."   
"Oh."   
The three made their way out to the kitchen and sat down at the table.   
  
"Where have you three been," Bulma asked as she eyed the three suspiciously.   
  
"Down in the science lab, I wanted to show Goten and Katrina some of the new models you were working on to help with our training. I thought they were pretty cool."   
  
"Yeah," Goten chimed in, " I thought they were really nicely done."   
"MmmHmm," Katrina continued, " You did a nice job."   
"Okay you three, I can tell when you won't talk," Bulma said as she searched form her purse, "I have to take care of some things at work today, so I won't be home until later on tonight. Your sisters' going over to Gohan's house today, and Vegeta.. well, you know."   
Trunks shot Goten an 'I told you so' look. About two hours later, Bulma called up to Bra who came running down the stairs excitedly. The two made their exit and left the teenagers sitting on the couch watching TV. The second Bulma and Bra were on their way, the three quickly made their way back to the decoder.   
"Where were we," Trunks said as he turned the machine back on.   
  
"Number eight," Katrina voiced as they all sat back in their places.   
  
  
Progress Report #8- Project #22051- Year #4   
Due to a mistake made while in the training room, #22051-17 has been terminated. The people responsible for the mistake have been penalized and the matter has been taken care of. #22051-18 and -19 have been born, and we are harnessing their psychic powers as of this report. They are working on the levitation of small objects. So far their attempts have been successful. We hope to be able to tap into their full powers as soon as next month. Enclosed is a tape of their progress and what we hope they will be able to do once we are finished with them.   
  
  
"Next," Katrina said.   
"I'm working on it!"   
  
  
Progress Report #9- Project #22051- Year #5  
  
Numbers #22051-18 through -21 have been terminated. Their level of power was not where we wanted it to be. Though they could cause some destruction, it was not enough to meet our requirements. Numbers 22051-22 as well as -23 have been operational for a month, and are showing signs of immense psychic ability. We have already completed the first steps of the training program and are now in phase two, which is a simulated mission. Enclosed is the procedure that they will have to go through as well as the main objective. I have also sent you the results from phase one, and as   
you will see, they are off the chart.  
  
  
"He's not very thorough in his reports," Goten said.  
  
"I think," Katrina uttered, "that's because he originally didn't want them to ask any questions at all. So when he was forced to, he must have been as short as possible."  
  
  
Progress Report #10- Project #22051- Year #5   
  
Although #'s -22 through -24 power was extraordinary, their control left   
something to be desired. Thus, our scientists figured out the problem and the specimens were terminated. Although they were capable of lifting small objects into the air and   
placing them at the set coordinates, their moving of larger ones was unpredictable.   
This resulted is several failed missions. Their mind control was limited to ten seconds, and the ability to inflict physical damage through the mind was simply not possible. Their more deadly abilities were so inaccurate and spontaneous; they could inflict the   
damage on any one person up to fifty feet away, whether they were a target or not.   
These weaknesses have been analyzed, and we have reached the final phase of operation #22051. The next soldier we bring up, could be the one we have been working toward for so many years.  
  
  
Without saying anything, Trunks punched some buttons so they could view the final reports. Their minds were still absorbing all of this new information, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.  
  
  
Progress Report #11- Project #22051- Year #6  
  
We have successfully created a soldier with the power of Cell. She has complete obedience to her master, and is fully capable of controlling every aspect of her powers. #22051-25 is your most powerful weapon. We must complete her training   
before she is ready. This will take precisely one year. In the mean time, we are creating another soldier. We have begun the process of bringing her genes up to the standards that will make her eligible to become apart of our program. Enclosed along with this report is a videotape of the destruction #22051-25 is capable of.   
  
  
Katrina knew that the soldier they were talking about creating next. The number would be 22051-26, her number. This made sense though; the memories she had must have been of them preparing her for their program.   
  
  
Progress Report #12- Project #22051- Year #6  
  
We have successfully created another psychic soldier. Her power surpasses that of -25, and with the proper training, she could take out an entire army by herself. Her program will be more extensive than that of -25 and she will need to go basic training exercises constantly to keep in top condition. It will be well worth it when you witness her awesome power in the video record I sent you. Her accuracy is down to the millimeter, and her obedience to her superiors is outstanding. Once 25 and 26 are done with training, we will send them to you.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
This ends the progress reports sent in by Dr. Geode. Shortly after this was turned in, his lab was destroyed and he, as well as numbers 22051-25 and 22051-26 disappeared under unknown circumstances.While the search for them lasted a full year, none of them were found. The videos and disks that were sent to the military are still in a top secret storage facility along with the remains of his lab and previous experiment data.  
  
  
"So who was 22051-25," Trunks asked looking at Katrina.  
  
"How should I know? I'm just now remembering them preparing me for those awful experiments. And that was more than a year ago."  
  
"Okay, so now we know that you're a psychic, do you think you can use your powers to do anything," Goten questioned.  
  
"I don't think I can... It's been such a long time since I've done it last-"  
  
"No, you did it the other night."  
  
"What are you talking about Trunks?"  
  
"Remember when I found you reading this in the first place?"  
  
"I don't think that was an act of psychic ability so much as dumb luck."  
  
"No, not the fact that I caught you. Do you remember you thought I had said something, but I didn't?"  
  
"Don't start that again, I heard you clear as day."  
  
"Exactly! But I never said that out loud, I was thinking it though. What were you doing as I read this thing?"  
  
"I was..trying to know what it was that was going through you mind."  
  
"So," said Goten slowly, "You can tap into your powers, but not at will. It only seems to happen at random."  
  
"Yeah, I guess that's it."  
  
"But you have the power to destroy an army."  
  
"Ah, but only if I'm properly trained."  
  
"So do you think we could uncover the powers you have?"  
  
"I don't know any of the training methods, and if I do, I can't remember."  
  
"What we need to find," said Trunks as he got up, "are those videos and disks that he sent the military."  
  
"But Trunks, you read the report, those are in some la-di-da top secret government place," Goten argued.  
  
Katrina thought for a moment. Had she seen something else in the drawer? But- that's it! Inside the drawer she had seen something else.  
  
"You guys, I know where the videos and stuff are!"  
  
"What," Trunks' head snapped in her direction, "Where?"  
  
"In the drawer the book came out of, I saw some disks and videos."  
  
"Well," Trunks exclaimed as he scooped up Katrina and headed out the door. "What're we waiting for?"   
  
They went back into the room were it had all started. Trunks let Katrina down and she hobbled over to the drawer. With some slight effort, she opened it and pulled out a disk and video.  
  
"Hey, that's only one of each," Goten said.  
  
"I know, but it's better than nothing, Trunks, you got a place where we could see these?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
They went into Trunks' room and locked the door behind them; they couldn't afford anyone to see them-they still weren't clear as to why Bulma had possession of the apparently top secret military report. Trunks loaded the disk onto his computer and they saw pictures pop up on the screen.  
  
"Hey look, it's us..." Goten said as he watched the images flash across the screen.  
  
"They have all our battle technique and stats. Hey look, there I am," Trunks said as he pointed out a picture of himself.  
  
"Wow, they got everything on you guys. The Kamehameha, the light of death, solar flare, big bang... It's all here. They did a good job."  
  
"Unfortunately this doesn't tell us anything of importance. I already knew my dad used the Kamehameha as his main move."  
  
"Well," Trunks said shutting off the computer, "there's always the videotape."  
  
He walked over to his VCR and popped the little black tape in. After a   
short time of fuzz, the crackling screen came to life and the face of and elderly man was on it.  
  
"Hey! That's Dr. Geode!" Katrina was frantically pointing at the screen as he started to talk.  
  
"As I have promised," the cold voice began, "here are the tapes of #22051-25's destructive power. This particular mission was a simple find and destroy operation. The target was set to be two tanks, which were armed with live ammunition. There were also two robots moving about the enclosure, which were secondary targets. As you will see her power is that of unimaginable levels."  
  
The tape switched to a scene in a jungle environment. Two tanks sat armed and ready to destroy whatever stood in their way. A barely visible shadow walked right in front of the tanks and stood still for a moment.  
  
"As you can see, she is able to cloak herself to match her surroundings   
as well as cloaking herself from radar. This makes her practically invisible to both the naked eye and any type of mechanical detection."  
  
The woman suddenly uncloaked herself and she was dressed in camouflage attire. Her hair was put up in a helmet, but some single red strands still hung out. She had her back turned to the camera, but never the less, Katrina instantly recognized her. The tanks fired at the woman and she just stood there and outstretched her hand. The huge bullets stopped menacingly inches from her face. Two shadows in the background caught the three's attention as they realized the androids were lurking just a few feet away.The woman took her other arm and made a sweeping motion. The tanks lifted off the ground, and were blown away at least fifty feet. The woman put her hand into a fist and they blew up.  
  
"Wow." Trunks had a look of disbelief on his face.  
  
The woman then turned her attention to the bullets in front of her and they went zooming into the place where the androids were lurking a moment before. They hit, and parts started to scatter everywhere. The woman turned to the camera and said with dead emotion in her voice, "Mission completed."  
  
The tape then went back to fuzz and Trunks got up to turn it off.  
  
"I can't believe she was able to do that with only her mind, " Goten stated after a short silence.  
  
"I've never seen anything like it before in my life." Trunks took both the tape and disk then put them next to each other on his desk. They sat there for a little while, thinking what they had just seen. All of them were in disbelief of it actually happening.  
  
Katrina sat there with an almost sick feeling in her stomach. That had   
been her mother. The same woman she had dreamt kicking and screaming for her child's safety. But now, it wasn't her. It was the same body, the same figure that her mother's soul had always been in, but something was different.   
  
Katrina's mind rewound the tape back and was looking at it, play by   
play in her mind.  
  
It was her eyes- they were dead. Like hers had been that first day she had been walking along the street. She realized that those people had managed to break her. To control her like a puppet. She was no longer the same woman who had attempted to rescue her.   
  
She was their so-called 'perfect soldier'. They had taken away her humanity for their sick project. Her stomach gave a quiver, and Katrina told it to calm down. The last she needed to do now was get sick over this.  
  
"But why would your mom have something like that," Goten murmured. To Katrina, the voice was distant, almost like she was outside of herself looking in on the three sitting there in the room.  
  
Her mind snapped back to Bulma. What role had she played in this? Was she genuinely concerned about her safety or was it all just some mask she was hiding behind?   
If this was all just some sick role she was playing, then Bulma was a very good actress. But how could she be sure? She knew the answer, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't bring herself to confront Bulma quite yet.   
  
She had to wait. 


	7. Dark Past- Ch.7

Chapter Seven   
The week after the 'revelation' they had found on the tapes went by as if it were a dream. Goten had gone home the next day, but made them promise to keep him updated if anything new showed up. She and Trunks had assured him they would.   
The tension between Bulma and Katrina steadily grew. Katrina was angry because of what Bulma had so conveniently forgotten to mention. Bulma wasn't stupid; she knew when something was going on. She knew Katrina was angry with her, over what she couldn't have guessed, but deep down her mind was alerted to the fact that maybe she had found out her little secret.   
Trunks and Katrina were spending more time together. He was still training her, but not as hard. She was learning quickly. She had but a few more techniques to teach her, and then all they had to focus on was her strength. She was getting up there in terms of strength. Already she was more powerful than any human was.   
The awkward moments between them continued, but always seemed to be interrupted.   
Katrina was on a shopping trip with Bulma one mildly tempered afternoon. It took some persuading by both Bulma and Trunks, but she had finally decided to go. They went up and down looking at clothes and the new computer gadgets that were displayed outside the stores. Katrina wasn't really looking at the displays; instead, she was thinking about what she had learned the previous week that seemed so long ago in her mind.   
"Okay, what's wrong?"   
Katrina felt like someone had slapped her. She was completely thrown off her train of thought by the statement. Even more so by the fact that Bulma had altogether stopped. She sat there searching Katrina's face for some sort of answer, a sign, anything.   
"What?" Katrina tried to replay the question in her mind, but wasn't entirely sure she heard correctly.   
"What's wrong with you lately? You've been acting weird towards me ever since that night that Goten came to spend the night. What's up?"   
Katrina had heard right. She had asked her what she was so afraid to tell her. She didn't want to bite the hand that fed her. For some reason, the fact that Bulma could be caught up in a type of operation just didn't seem plausible. Nevertheless, Bulma had brought it up; it was like a get out of jail free card. She didn't have to worry about how to bring it up anymore. She took in a deep breath and got her thoughts in order.   
"Well.why did you take an interest in me when I was at the hospital? I know you're not a doctor, so I was wondering."   
"Wondering why-"   
"And," Katrina hesitated a moment, but could no longer keep it in, it had been tearing up her head for the whole week. "I found something."   
Bulma tensed a little, she knew what was coming. "Go on."   
"It was a book. Navy blue. I wasn't snooping or anything, but I had only gone to get my hair tie."   
Katrina spilled everything. About the flashback she had when the needle pricked her, to the conversation she was having when the glass shattered, to when she had first seen Trunks' expression as he read the book. She went on about her sneaking out to find the book, but didn't mention anything about Goten and Trunks' involvement from then on. She didn't know why, it just wasn't something she thought she should say. She then told about what she had found out about from the decoded papers. She ended with the videotape and diskette.   
"Why do you have all that?" she asked Bulma. She was so unnerved from telling her all those things that she was shaking all over from it. The butterflies in her stomach were beating their wings wildly. Her head was going a mile a minute and she wondered for a brief moment if Bulma could hear the thoughts that were swimming in her head. Though she was standing there silent, inside she was screaming.   
Bulma just looked at her like she had the first day they met. It was a combination of pity and concern. She sighed and dropped her arms down to her side.   
"I should have told you," she said more to herself than Katrina, "I should have but I didn't. You would have remembered it anyway, but I was hoping to protect you. if only for a little while."   
  
Katrina went to bed that night feeling a lot better, but still concerned. At least now she knew that Bulma hadn't had anything to do with the project, nothing intentional at least. Her mind slowly relaxed itself into that end of the day mode. She recalled what Bulma had told her at the mall with a look of mixed relief and sadness.   
She hadn't really known anything about the details of the project for a long time after the military had asked her that favor. She had no idea who they had gotten or even the fact that they had actually went through with the horrific project.   
After a while she had noticed that the military was ordering an awful lot of special part s from her company. She compared the ordering lists and it didn't take her long to fit the pieces together. She hadn't said anything to anybody though, because she understood that it must be priority one to keep this project a secret from everybody.   
A couple months later, she saw on the news that the police were looking for a criminal who was suspected in a series of gruesome murders and she recognized the picture to be Dr. Geode. Not long after that, she had gone down to the place where she suspected his lab was. It took her a week of searching to find it, but she finally did it. She had found Dr. Geode's lab.   
As she searched through the rubble trying to figure out what had happened, she had found the diskette of the warrior's battle data on it. She hadn't even thought about the possibility that they could be using human test subjects, not at least until the woman had come up to her.   
The woman. That was the person who stood out most in Katrina's mind. Who was she? She had asked Bulma that very question, but she had just shook her head...   
  
"She was very obscured whenever I saw her. She always wore this cloak. but anyway.She came to me the first time and gave me the book. The second time, she had given me the videotape, and some other diskettes. She said she couldn't let me have those other diskettes because she needed them, she wouldn't tell me why. So The third and final time I met her she told me to give a few things back, and to not allow anyone to see what she had given me. Said it would endanger my life as well as hers.   
"That final time was also when she warned my about you. She said that someone would find a girl on the street. She told me exactly what you looked like; it was creepy the first time I saw you. She had it down to every last hair on your head. She told me to take care of you, because you were safest with me."   
"So why did you take those blood samples from me?"   
"Because she told me to. She didn't tell me exactly what to look for, but said that I should just look out for anything abnormal."   
"Did she tell you what to do if you did find anything out of the ordinary?"   
"Nope. She said if I found anything strange that she would contact me. I wasn't entirely sure I could trust what this woman was saying until you showed up one day in one of our hospitals."   
"And that's why you took an interest in me, that's why you took me home."   
"Yes."   
She sat there and looked at Bulma for a little before she asked her next question. This one had been on her mind ever since she had mentioned the woman. But she was almost afraid of asking it. She wasn't sure she would like the answer she got if she did. She took in a slow breath and asked anyway,   
"Did she say anything about my mother?" And before she could stop herself, "Was she my mother?"   
"Yes, she did say something about your mother. She said you were with her, but not for long, and that something would tear you two apart. I asked her what she meant by that but she didn't reply. She said that whatever is was that was going to tear you apart was probably going to-"   
She stopped abruptly and her hand immediately went over her mouth. She had said too much, but Katrina had already caught on.   
"To kill my mother," she said absent-mindedly. Bulma just nodded her head.   
"I'm sorry sweetie. As for the fact of whether or not she was your mother. I had thought so at first. This lady had brown hair, and I think you mom's was red. Her eyes were blue too, your mom's were green. I remember that on the videotape. When your mom turned to the camera, I couldn't see anything in them. At the time it had given me chills down my spine."   
"Me too."   
"But I do remember checking, and it didn't match up. I should have told you all this sooner, but I couldn't. How could I possibly? 'Oh hey how are you? I gotta tell you something, You're a government experiment and your mom is probably dead and god knows what else, but nice whether we're having huh?' It just didn't seem right to me, but I know that doesn't justify what I did."   
She had looked up at Katrina then, and the lines in her face had been more defined when she did. She looked older somehow, like the worry and fuss had somehow taken some of the life out of her...   
  
As Katrina lay in her bed that night, she thought about what she had discovered in only a few short months. She had gone from an anonymous girl walking down the street to a military project in a small span of time. But it didn't feel like just a few weeks to her. The distance between that fateful day and where she was now were years apart.   
A gentle breeze flew in from her open window and sighed as it tickled her cheek. She was drifting into a nice sleep. A dreamless one she hoped. The nightmare she had had a short while ago still hung fresh in her mind. Fortunately someone was listening to her and since that night she didn't have any, or at least none she could remember. Katrina woke with a start in the middle of the night. All the muscles in her body had tensed for no apparent reason. The curtains on her window swayed gently as they had when she went to sleep a few hours earlier. She sat up in her bed and for a time, was afraid to move.   
This is stupid, she thought, you're not three anymore. There is no boogie-man under your bed. And even if there were, you could probably kick its ass. That didn't change the fact that she couldn't move. She sat there feeling stupid, but it seemed to her that the position she had taken was the right one.   
What was that? She thought she had heard something outside. She slowly and carefully made her way over to the window to peer out. She didn't see anything, so why was she- What was that? She strained her eyes to see in the dark. She thought there was a shadow that shouldn't be there. That's ridiculous. There isn't anything out there. It's all part of your imagination.   
But, said another voice; you said the same thing when you thought that you were an experiment. The trees rustled in the wind and Katrina jumped. She sighed and turned on her bedroom light.   
"Stop being a baby," she said, and surprised herself with the firmness in her voice. She closed her window and then turned off her light. She fell into a dreamless sleep.   
The next day she told Trunks about her discussion with Bulma.   
"Ah, so that's it." Trunks had a look of relief on his face. He had hoped that his mom wasn't some weirdo science maniac, and this new information had eased his mind greatly. He was glad that at least some of this was cleared up.   
But the secrets of Katrina's past were not yet fully revealed. Questions still remained unanswered. Where was her mom, if she was still alive? What happened to her father and sister? Had she just imagined them? What was the extent of her powers that the doctor had so eagerly mentioned? Could she, after the length of time, still tap onto that power that she had? But from the new information Katrina found herself wondering a new question, who was the woman anyway?   
Katrina decided that these answers would come in time, and decided to sort through the answers she did have before going and digging up any more. She figured she had found out quite a bit, but didn't exactly know how to deal with it. How would you feel if you found out you were some weirdo science experiment gone wrong?   
For three days strait after her and Bulma had talked, Katrina was lodged in her room. She only came out to eat, but the rest of the time she sat in her room on her bed, looking out of the window and contemplating what had happened to her.   
Trunks had stepped in a few times to see if she okay or if she needed something. These visits usually consisted of him asking her if she was all right. Katrina would give him a reassuring look that said 'I'm not really all right but I will be.hopefully'. He would sigh and they would sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes, and then Trunks would get up and leave the room. Katrina would sit on her bed, alone once again, and almost cry.   
"My mother, my father, my sister," she whispered in her pillow after one of his visits."Where are you guys? I love you so much, wherever you are, I hope you know that." 


End file.
